World Poetry Celebrates Eleanor Guerrero Campbell from Canada!

Ariadne’s Notes: The World Poetry Café Radio Show, with lead host Anita Aguirre Nieveras and co-hosts Ariadne Sawyer and Neall Ryon, super tech, Victor Schwartzman and volunteer Sharon Rowe welcomed the amazing and talented Eleanor Guerrero Campbell presenting  her new book Stumble Through Paradise in an  interview full of tips to help both new and older immigrants in their journey through life in Canada. E-poem tribute  to Muhammad Ali  by World Poetry Theatre Ambassador Oswald Okaitei , recorded poetry reading by Carla Evans, a preview of the film Genius and music added to the show.

To hear this fascinating show CLICK HERE!

Invitation to Eleanor last launch:

Filipino Immigrants ‘Stumble Through Paradise’: A New Novel Is Launched !

May 1, 2016, Vancouver BC – You’ve heard it all before: immigrant engineers end up driving taxis, teachers cleaning floors, doctors working as clerks, that you hardly care anymore. But if you knew exactly how it feels to be that engineer – your wife  also unable to practice her profession, your children being bullied in school and unhappy at home, a decline in your  income and status, loss of confidence and moral authority over your family –  perhaps then you might begin to care.

That’s what Eleanor Guerrero Campbell’s debut novel “Stumbling Through Paradise: A Feast of Mercy for Manuel del Mundo” aims to do: make people care about what newcomers struggle through. It also circles to how, in time, they survive and thrive. This novel is about the immigrant journey of the fictional Filipino del Mundo family through Canada in the eighties to the present. of an immigrant serving organization, she met many highly accomplished professionals from the Philippines, China and India devastated by the loss of status, income, confidence, and respect. Many were in despair about failing to secure jobs in their field, when they had been admitted to Canada precisely for their skills. Guerrero-Campbell saw the positive impact of programs like mentoring and educating newcomers about credential recognition and the job search process in Canada. Working with a multistakeholder roundtable improving labour market integration of immigrants, she also saw the other side: the concerns of professional regulatory bodies and employers.

Thus, Guerrero-Campbell weaves into the novel’s narrative, the problems, issues and solutions to the underemployment of skilled immigrants through the lives of three generations of del Mundos. The setting is Metro Vancouver rife with race related tensions such as the English only signs in Richmond, ‘monster houses’ in Surrey, and the racial killing of a Filipino youth in Vancouver. An ambitious 3-part novel built around the three generations of the del Mundos, it ends with a second generation del Mundo aspiring for political office, challenging the multicultural mosaic of Canada as being inadequate and proposing a new way.

“A timely reminder of what it is like to be a newcomer, when our City continues to welcome more and more immigrants and refugees,” said Baldwin Wong, Multicultural Social Planner of the City of Vancouver.

“..the first such novel focused on Filipino immigrants in a positive and balanced manner..” said Aprodicio and Eleanor Laquian, authors of “Seeking a Better Life Abroad: A Study of Filipinos in Canada”.

“… narrative blends into an engaging read the diverse lives of Filipinos…depicts virtue and vice, hope and despair, triumph and failure in a contemporary setting that’s also a social commentary about the complex challenges immigrants face in a new country. From the idyllic town of Pililla east of Manila to the global city of Vancouver, Eleanor has drawn deep to produce a sparkling gem,” said Carlito Pablo, staff writer, Georgia Straight.

Sponsored by Anyone Can Act Theatre (ACAT), the book launch will benefit Daloy Puso, a newcomer youth mentoring program where UBC students mentors newcomer youth in Vancouver schools. The book launch will feature an author interview interspersed with readings from the novel by ACAT members, followed by Q and A with the author, book sale and signing.

A preview of the book can be seen on this website:

http://www.friesenpress.com/bookstore/title/119734000025525161/Eleanor-Guerrero-Campbell-Stumbling-Through-Paradise

Source: Theresa dela Fuente: email: techiedelafuente0712@gmail.com